Time flies.

Time flies so much easier these days. I can't explain it but it's 8:30 pm and i've already worked a full day, had a pint with a friend, had dinner(a bit rushed though) and still have at least 4 more hours of free time. Maybe it's just me being very efficient with my time, but maybe we rush into things to quickly and go through life on high speed.

As we are coming to an end of this year, I am starting to think about my resolutions and one of them will definitely be to pause once in a while and take a moment to appreciate life and what I have. This past year I've learned to appreciate life quality more than anything and that it's really not worth being complacent. But there's nothing like a good kick in the ass to teach you that.

It's fairly strange how I set resolutions each year and as everyone else, I forget about them even the next day; but when i do the math at the end, somehow most of them I've managed to accomplish. Maybe my goals are not to high but this years included finding a new job and moving abroad again, learning 3 new skills and taking German lessons again; which I definitely consider accomplished.
So, with so little time before NYE, i'm starting to write my 2014 resolutions. Any suggestions? :)

How To Efficiently Spend Your First Salary

Situation: You have a new job, you're excited and you just received your first salary. What next?! Here are the best ways to spend it (in Dublin):

1.  Take a cab anywhere you go. It seems cheap but actually once you get used to it, you have a hard time letting go and end up taking it everywhere.
2.  Go to the worst club ever and instead of doing what everyone else does and just drink 2.5 euro beer, chip in for a bottle of whiskey.
3.  Go shopping almost very day of the week with a bad excuse like oh i just need socks, won't spend more than 10 euros and end up spending at least 10 times more.
4.  Eat out and order take out as much as you can.
5.  Buy groceries for your place even though you never eat at home and they just go bad.
6.  Say you have a costume Christmas party. Go all in! Spend as much as you can on an outfit that you will probably never wear again!
7.  Instead of quitting smoking, resume to spending almost 10 euros per pack
8. Get a contract deal for your phone with unlimited everything instead of pay as you go even though you obviously don't need it since your main communication method is fb, viber or whatsapp. 

Number 9 and 10, to be continued, the month is not yet over:)

I did it better the second time + my 10 things to do when moving abroad

A year later, I am again packing my life and moving to a new destination. People see it as such a hard thing to pack your life, your apartment in 2 bags and leave. But guess what, it took me a total of 2 days, in which time I threw away half of my stuff, packed half of what was left for storage and managed to narrow the rest to 60 kg. I am amazed of my efficiency as well:)

It seems sad that I can detach so easily of the place I've lived in for the past year but it also feels good that I managed to not get attached to my things again and that I finally learned that I can live so lightly. The human is a gatherer and a hoarder by nature and learning to let go of all the material things and all the nice and useless crap that we constantly buy to fuel a consumerism society is so liberating. All my memories are in my head and I don't need constant physical reminders to know what's important to me or not.

On this note, here are my 10 things to do when moving abroad:

1. If you haven't worn something in more than 6 months, it's time to let it go!

2. You don't need to carry towels, bed sheets, pillows, duvets, books, beauty and hygiene products, hairdryer, and things that you can purchase cheap in any country, it's just not worth taking them from home.

3. The most important things you need are your documents (plus a set of copies), at least 2 or 3 credit or debit cards and any prescribed medication. When moving to a new country it takes a while until you get settled and find a GP so I prefer to be safe and carry some broad spectrum antibiotics with me at all times. Anything else can be usually purchased locally in case you forgot it at home.

4. Check the average temperature for each month in your destination and choose only proper clothes. If during summer, the maximum is 20 degrees, why bother packing 10 summer dresses? You have limited space and it is better spent on something else.

5. When traveling with more than 1 suitcase, pack a bit of everything in each other suitcase and one set of clean clothes and underwear in your carry-on; bags are lost all the time and you don't want to get there and realize you're left with only a bag of shoes and nothing else until they find your other bag and return it to you, ransacked and usually missing items.

6. Use vacuum storage bags for everything, they help you save a lot of space.

7. Before you go, close any contracts or leave notarized mandates to someone you trust in case there is anything legal to be done or even if they have to pick up some documents for you- bureaucracy is everywhere!

8. If you have things you don't need and don't want to store, call your friends over and show it to them; who knows, someone may want to adopt your books!

9. Research the city you move to before you get there and try to figure out the good neighborhoods to live in, how can you get from the airport to your primary destination, which is your primary destination (should you arrange for a hotel or maybe even rent something for the short term, until you settle in and figure out all the details). At the same time, take a look at http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ to see the average prices of food, clothes, gas, rent, etc. in your destination country. From this, try to forecast your monthly expenses and decide whether you want to live in the city center and save on public transportation or pay less for rent and buy a car.

10. And finally, my last piece of advice is try to let go of unnecessary items and take only things you truly need. Be honest to yourself and don't break your back just to carry 20 pair of high heeled shoes that you know you are only going to wear once a year. Also, be prepared for a new adventure- it will eventually be fun even though you may hit some bumps on the way. When you first get there, open a local bank account, you will need it for everything and it's a bit of a vicious circle. Find out if you need to apply for a national insurance number or social security number or any equivalent of that. Don't get stuck on issues you may have at first because people are usually willing to help you.
Eventually, just have fun with it and learn to let go of material things, your life will be so much easier!

 For the nomads of this world: fly, spread your wings and explore, there's nothing better than new experiences!

And to you, my dear Romania, I promise I'll visit again soon; until then it's goodbye!

Shanghai 2.0

After 8 months spent in London we said our goodbyes and moved on in different directions. So I packed my bags and I went to Shanghai first. For 6 weeks, i lived in this gorgeous city and couldn't have had more fun. It was not my first experience in China so i knew the downsides of living there. Some people however had a difficult time getting used to it. For me it was just like home in some ways. Little details, like people being rude, spitting on the street, driving without any rules, etc. just reminded me of Romania. It takes a lot of patience to get used to the environment especially since no one, but no one speaks English. You get used to always carrying business cards of the places you want to go to in order to show taxi drivers, you get really good at charades since you have to explain to them everything with signs but you also get frustrated at one point. If you manage to get past that frustration, Shanghai is an amazing place to be. The night life is incredible and every club has a beautiful view of the river, the hundreds of skyscrapers just make you feel so small and insignificant and the food, oh the food. If you do manage to not be disgusted by what they eat, you can experience crazy stuff from snakes to scorpions. It's a whole new world. It is so different from Europe in so many ways and still so many things are similar to Romania. However, i must admit that Shanghai does not represent the real China. Yes, the people are Chinese and they don't speak English but the city is more European than Asian. Most clubs and restaurants are owned and made just for expats so it's easy to find normal food at every corner. The clubs are actually separate- the really good ones are only frequented by expats and in real Chinese clubs i don't recommend anyone to go unless they have a death wish. The alcohol is so fake that you might as well drink nail polish remover! Indeed, it is very cheap and they have all sorts of deals like 8 drinks for the equivalent of 10 quid but you are also guaranteed alcohol poisoning or at least the worst hangover in your life the next day. The good thing though is that they close early morning, not like in the UK where they kick you out at 3. This is another thing that reminds me of home- parties last until the next day:)
So.. how much did we love Shanghai? We are crazy about it, with the good and the bad! I could even imagine myself living there for 1 or 2 years working. It's a culture that everyone needs to experience. Where else can you eat scorpions on the street? Or still smoke everywhere?

Bday away from home

Two weeks ago i turned 22. This may seem like a happy occassion for some, but i can't say i was very thrilled. This has nothing to do with the fact that i am getting older because i still have all my life in front of me. No, this is about not being home. I never felt home sick, but it was a very weird birthday... I did spend it with wonderful people that made my day...but somewhere deep down i felt the need to be with my childhood friends and family, the people who know me by heart and have seen me and been there for me in my worst moments. As i think about it more and more, i realise that i am 22 and i need to grow up, in accordance to my age. I need to stop complaining and just move on. I need to be grateful that i had by my side great people that stayed with me on the 4th to have a drink at midnight on the 5th and celebrate, bought me macaroons, cupcakes, and sang happy bday:) As you get older, you begin to distance yourself from superficial things and you don't even care that much about birthdays and celebrations. One of my promises for life is that i will never stop being excited about my birthday and even if i am away, miles and miles away i will try to make the most of it every year!!!

Not recommended for judgemental people.

until recently my impression of london was that it is simply amazing....but as i start to come back to earth and into the real life i realize that it doesn't matter where you are, people are the same...people are still mean and do inexplicable things with no reason. i am weird because i have high expectations of others and i always end up being let down. nothing is as it seems and any problem does not have a reasonable explanation....i've met some great people but i've also met some people i simply do not like...their character, their way of being, their judgemental character....london, paris, new york or bucharest, people will always judge you.This is not a post about judgement because if i open the subject to debate it's never going to end.This is simply a post in which i state my personal opinion towards judgemental people: i hate you... i pitty you because you live in such a narrow minded world that you don't even know what's going on around you.A piece of advice: come back to your senses cause you're not going to get anywhere in this world by being this way and if i ever see another one of you i swear to god i'm going to spit you in the face.Actually i am not, because that would mean i am judging you too and i am not, but still, get a life!! What are you doing here in this multicultural environment if you're just going to judge everyone else? you could have done that from home, on the couch in front of the computer....you're sad and i honestly feel sorry for you.Blame me, sue me, curse me, judge me i don't care, because i know i have the world at my feet and you don't.Thanks for listening though...and good night:))

End of toolbox

Today is the end of toolbox..finally...Monday is the real first day of school for me because toolbox was not so demanding except for the fact that courses last 3 hours instead of the 1 hour &20 min courses I was used to.2 weeks have gone by so fast i didn't even realize it with all the househunting and classes and then moving and decorating the place. When i started this blog I promised myself that i would write everyday in order to record this amazing adventure but of course i didn't have the time and now i don't have internet at home until the 19th and i am trying to make the most of the time at school and the mgb on my phone..so friends be patient cause you will get bored of me when i do get internet:) Househunting was horrible i don't recommend to anyone to move here if you don't have a place to crash until you find something..but we finally did:) a nice house with a large garden and huge lounge in a nice area that i will post pictures of when i have the proper tools to do that:))) Until now i can honestly say that i've seen much more of London than any tourist can thanks to the househunting adventure and i am already hating the tourist areas and i much rather go shopping or clubbing in other parts of London. Sometimes after classes i just walk around in any direction for a few hours to discover more and more every day and just grasp every piece of this city. Of course most times i don't know where i am and i still need to use google maps that usually gives me the wrong directions and i end up getting home late at night:) What more can i say for now? Life is great in London once you settle in, find a place, open a bank account, etc..( awfull) . The next step is hosting a housewarming party tommorow before school starts because from Monday we are all turning into the biggest geeks and nerds:)) I don't miss Ro at all but i do miss my fam& my fab friends!!!